Australia is being de-metricated!

[Old Koreelah]

I'm incensed at the rapid erosion of metricating in our country; over the last few years I've been finding more products in the shops with imperial measurements. I could tolerate that if they also had metric equivalents on the label, but even that semblance of legality is rapidly going out the window! This morning I tried to buy some bolts at my local Mitre 10 and there were NO metric measurements either on them or in the shelf labels. Then I tried to buy stove repair putty and every product was labelled with degrees Fahrenheit and floz (we unlearned all this sh1t decades ago!)

 

The Metric Conversion Board did a good job and was disbanded in 1988; since then, who is policing standards?

 

I've encountered American salesmen trying to sell their stuff here and they've refused to provide metric versions of their spex.

What utter arrogance! How offensive that another country refuses to adapt their products to the standards used by the rest of the world and expect us to go backwards!

 

I've long since realised our country suffers the cultural cringe, but it's time we told the Americans to join the modern era and stop trying to impose their antiquated standards on the rest of the world!

 

But wait... many of our American friends have metricated and use the international system.

I'm most angry at lazy Australian businesses who have simply shipped in container-loads of US product and made no effort to make them comply with local standards. Why don't our fearless leaders enforce our laws?

Edited August 31, 2020 by Old Koreelah

[onetrack]

Your last sentence is exactly where the problem originates from. The products are made for the American market, our merchandise buyers simply buy them because they are generally offered cheaper. "You want metric labels? That costs more."

 

Some indication of the purchasing power of America, is that Walmart buys more on an annual basis, from the Chinese, than the entire Australian nation does annually.

 

The whole problem stems from Australia becoming the 51st State, what with American spelling creeping in constantly via our computers, phones and American-origin software programmes, clothing styles slavishly following American fashion, and American entertainment "stars" featuring more prominently on a regular basis, than any local "stars".

 

News is slanted towards American news and problems, American politics, and American issues. Hopefully the COVID-19 situation will provide more potential for our development as Australia and Australians, and ensure we don't continue to become overwhelmed by American culture, styles, measurements, and spelling!

 

Interestingly, I was advised, around about 30 years ago (by a person involved in high-level manufacturing engineering, with experience both here and in the U.S.), that all the larger and well-known manufacturers in the U.S. had set up to convert to metric manufacturing at the drop of a hat, and were expecting America to move to metric measurements in the near future.

 

They obviously didn't count on the stubbornness of the American Govt and many Americans, to continue to resist metrification, with the U.S. Govt continually taking the line, that conversion would be an unbearable cost to small businesses, and many individuals seeing metrification as a French plot to subvert their economy to a European-centred one.

[old man emu]

I don't know what you were looking at when you were buying the bolts. I can always find metric nuts, bolts and washers in a separate display bat from the imperial. What gets me is that screws are described by gauge, which is an imperial measurement, and by length in millimetres.

 

At least with bolts and nut I can go back to AN, MS or NAS and look at the dash numbers.

[facthunter]

The US attitude to this is" Metrics are UN-American." . That's it. The world wide Scientific people use it. Some folk ignore science for a higher order of order and fact. The AN system goes to gauge in the smaller diameters. Like 8 gauge x 32. really common size Used on older Harleys OME Wheel spokes are in gauge. Nev

Edited August 31, 2020 by facthunter

[RFguy]

well I am a big fan of UNC in aluminium. coarse thread.. compared with say.. M3. gimme a 4-40 instead of a M3 or M3.5 anyday.

[facthunter]

In metrics your diameter and pitch are pretty much your choice. nev

[old man emu]

In metrics your diameter and pitch are pretty much your choice. nev

 

No they are not. You can only get accepted standards, just as you can only get accepted standards in Imperial.

 

 

[facthunter]

. You can build what you like with metric as in UNFF and such. You are listing "standard" readily available off the shelf.. Cycle and Brass are the same pitch regardless of the diameter. British cycle is 26 and 20. Brass is 26 and US cycle is 24 and 20. Included angles vary and thread forms also. British is WHITWORTH form and the US ones are UN form. Metric also have an ISO form. Later ones I think.. Where you get into trouble is with the pitch of your lathes leadscrew. You need to use a 127 somewhere in the conversion off the back gears but it won't index again if you disconnect the leadscrew and try another position. of the split nut. I think we'd be better going metric. It's pretty crazy with all of the possibilities we have to deal with currently as I have to all the time with the fossils I work on. Nev

[onetrack]

Metric threads were just fine in original European specifications, until the Japs decided they needed their own metric system - the JIS. It just means less standardisation, which is what I thought metric was all about.

Edited August 31, 2020 by onetrack

[APenNameAndThatA]

I'm incensed at the rapid erosion of metricating in our country; over the last few years I've been finding more products in the shops with imperial measurements. I could tolerate that if at they also had metric equivalents on the label, but even that semblance of legality is rapidly going out the window! This morning I tried to buy some bolts at my local Mitre 10 and there were NO metric measurements either on them or in the shelf labels. Then I tried to buy stove repair putty and every product was labelled with degrees Fahrenheit and floz (we unlearned all this sh1t decades ago!)

 

The Metric Conversion Board did a good job and was disbanded in 1988; since then, who is policing standards?

 

I've encountered American salesmen trying to sell their stuff here and they've refused to provide metric versions of their spex.

What utter arrogance! How offensive that another country refuses to adapt their products to the standards used by the rest of the world and expect us to go backwards!

 

I've long since realised our country suffers the cultural cringe, but it's time we told the Americans to join the modern era and stop trying to impose their antiquated standards on the rest of the world!

 

But wait... many of our American friends have metricated and use the international system.

I'm most angry at lazy Australian businesses who have simply shipped in container-loads of US product and made no effort to make them comply with local standards. Why don't our fearless leaders enforce our laws?

 

The bolts didn't have metric measurements because they weren't metric bolts.

[Old Koreelah]

The bolts didn't have metric measurements because they weren't metric bolts.

Even imperial bolts have been labelled with shaft length in mm for yonks. Now some local suppliers don't seem to even care about the law or their customers- they buy in container loads of stuff that was made for the American market- and expect us to relearn the crappy medieval measures!

[M61A1]

This seems to be a first world problem. Neither system is difficult to work with.

it must be really upsetting to have buy a #30 drill.

[facthunter]

As you get older, your early memories are all you have. . THEY were going to make it illegal to have a 12" rule or inches micrometers around. The Queen is about a 175 Cm RULER. Charles is about ..somewhere. Has Harry done an imperial bolt? You have number and letter drills as well as metric and inches.. Boring Eh? Nev

[Old Koreelah]

This seems to be a first world problem. Neither system is difficult to work with...

 

I totally disagree, M61. This comes from a working life spent trying to help kids overcome learning roadblocks caused by our illogical spelling, grammar and measurement systems. Plenty of older people never overcame those impediments, which handicapped their whole lives.

[old man emu]

I've got a set of drills that are the usual Imperial to 1/2", plus number and letter drills.

 

I really can't see why industry would decide to use drills that are neither Imperial equivalents of metric, nor based on multiples of 1/64". What benefit is there in using say a #31 or #30 drill which are only a few poofteenths either side of a 1/8" drill? There are eight drills available for drilling holes between 3/32" and 7/64" for example.

[Old Koreelah]

This morning I unloaded about all this to an old croppy mate and he told of how some farmers would insist he change his spraying quotes from hectares to acres.

 

He would obligue, but make up the quote in Pounds, Shillings and Pence.

[M61A1]

I've got a set of drills that are the usual Imperial to 1/2", plus number and letter drills.

 

I really can't see why industry would decide to use drills that are neither Imperial equivalents of metric, nor based on multiples of 1/64". What benefit is there in using say a #31 or #30 drill which are only a few poofteenths either side of a 1/8" drill? There are eight drills available for drilling holes between 3/32" and 7/64" for example.

I must admit that I prefer my imperial drills labeled in thousandths of an inch. I don’t really like letter and number drills, but I can live with it. There are many larger problems that need solving in my world that come before how my fasteners are labelled. I get that the ideal hole size for a 1/8 rivet is a bit bigger but not a 1/32 or 1/64 bigger. 0.128” seems easier than #30. But it is what is.

It must be really annoying that the metric prefixes are rooted in Latin

whatever happened to keeping you mind active as you get older?

Edited August 31, 2020 by M61A1

[pmccarthy]

I spent a lot of time once converting 40 feet to the inch plans into 1:500. Cost our company a fortune and barely changed the plans at all.

[spacesailor]

American measurements are not Imperial! .

I still like B A nuts and bolts.

spacesailor

[old man emu]

It must be really annoying that the metric prefixes are rooted in Latin

 

They are rooted in English, too.

[skippydiesel]

I stand to be corrected but it seems that most, if not all automotive brake systems are imperial, often with metric equivalent quoted - how come?

[onetrack]

Let's not start on tyre sizes!! A mixture of metric and inch sizes all rolling along happily!! (until they go flat, of course).

[M61A1]

Let's not start on tyre sizes!! A mixture of metric and inch sizes all rolling along happily!! (until they go flat, of course).

Tyres was going to be my next question.

Do you use PSI or KPa when inflating tyres OK?

I hate working in Bar or KPa. I think that PSI is just the right balance between coarse and fine measurement.

[Old Koreelah]

Tyres was going to be my next question.

Do you use PSI or KPa when inflating tyres OK?

I hate working in Bar or KPa. I think that PSI is just the right balance between coarse and fine measurement.

I adapted easily to Bar/KPa. 230KPa in my tyres makes sense to me.

For higher pressures, Bar or Atmospheres: 200 Bar in my air rifle.

Edited August 31, 2020 by Old Koreelah

[Bernie]

I don't own a metric tape...I never converted...I'm dyslexic with numbers Imperial works for me metric doesn't . The bus in my avatar is 36 foot long .

Bernie .